


The Room Where It Happened

by greywardenblue



Series: Dumort boyfriends [4]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: M/M, but it happens in the show and not exactly major, there is a character death mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-03 00:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6589348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greywardenblue/pseuds/greywardenblue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being kicked out of the Dumort, Simon stays in one of Magnus’s guest rooms and finds a book that doesn’t seem to belong to the warlock. (Post-finale)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Room Where It Happened

Simon laid in bed, unable to fall asleep.

Jocelyn was awake. Jocelyn, the woman who was almost like his mother - the woman who, unlike his mother, would understand him becoming a vampire and possibly even love him still regardless of it. And yet, as he watched Clary finally embrace her mother, Simon slipped out of the room quietly.

He wasn’t ready to face the woman. Jocelyn must have expected Clary to be covered in runes when she woke up, but Simon? Simon wasn’t supposed to be part of the deal.

Though perhaps she wouldn’t be surprised at all. Perhaps she knew Simon always followed Clary everywhere. Even when Clary would be so preoccupied with her new world that she doesn’t even notice when–

Simon gripped the blanket hard and grit his teeth. He didn’t _want_ to blame Clary for ending up as a vampire, or for ruining his relationship with Raphael. Clary was his best friend, and she only wanted to keep her mother safe.

And yet.

Simon gave up on sleeping and got off the bed to explore his room. Well - Magnus’s room. Staying at the Institute with Clary was out of the question, and while Luke offered to take him in, it was obvious that even after the Demonic Killer incident most werewolves weren’t too happy about having a vampire around.

Simon never expected Magnus to offer him a room, especially that the warlock couldn’t even seem to remember his name after several corrections. Magnus seemed upset when Clary and Simon told him about what happened with Raphael, murmured something about needing to talk to the vampire, then mentioned he had a couple empty guest rooms the boy could use.

This one looked like it hasn’t been used for at least a couple of decades. Magnus might have cleaned the dust with a snap of his fingers before Simon moved in, and yet the boy still couldn’t help but feel the air of abandonment surrounding him. The room wasn’t like the rest of Magnus’s apartment at all. It lacked the same decorations, the same flamboyance - it was a regular old bedroom with two bookshelves, and some clothes in the wardrobe that looked like they might have been worn by a teenage boy sometime mid-century.

Simon sighed and stood in front of the bookshelf, browsing its contents and pulling out a few books with unknown but interesting titles to glance into them. While moving one of them, though, he noticed a little black book hidden behind the others. Curiously, he reached in and took it out.

He was surprised to find the little back book was entirely handwritten. Perfect, round letters in fluent Spanish filling pages after pages. Simon squinted as he tried to make out anything he could understand, while also cursing himself for never properly learning Spanish. The first sentence on the right page was easy enough to understand even without much knowledge of the language: _Magnus Bane es un idiota_. Simon smiled to himself, recognition tugging at his mind somewhere deep down, but he turned the page without thinking much about it.

The next two pages were full of perfect letters like the previous ones, but when he turned the page again it all changed. Two unrecognisable paragraphs in shaky letters, and then the same sentence repeating like a mantra. _Extraño a mi mamá_. On the bottom of the page, there was a small sketch of a cross on a chain.

“Simon?”

Simon jumped at Clary’s voice and closed the book, throwing it down on the bed.

“I’m coming!”

—

Clary stayed a couple of hours, Magnus pretending to complain about the teenagers occupying his apartment, but far from looking truly upset. Simon noticed the warlock was frowning a lot at his phone, sending out texts then checking for answers, but he didn’t ask who they were for.

When he went back to his room, his eyes immediately went to the black book on the white covers. By this point, it was obvious the book was a personal journal of someone who used to live in this room - someone who wasn’t Magnus. Simon felt guilty, and yet oddly curious, even if he could barely understand most of the writings. Somehow, the perfectly round letters captivated him - and the shaky, distraught ones pulled him in even more.

He glanced towards the door to make sure Magnus wasn’t about to come in, and sat on the bed comfortably before opening the book at a random page again.

This time, he was surprised to find an old photograph of Magnus and a woman seemingly in her thirties. She was wearing a fancy dress and was barefoot, and they both looked happy, laughing at each other as Magnus leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. It must have slipped between the pages.

On the page beneath it, there was a doodle of a mouth with visible fangs, and another of a house. _Quiero ir a casa_ , read the writing below it, short and simple. It was easy enough that Simon understood. _I want to go home_.

Suspicion and guilt together stopped Simon from trying to make out more of the writing, but he couldn’t bring himself to put the book down. He kept turning the pages, only concentrating on the small sketches, though even like this he couldn’t help but notice more than he should have. His eyes kept being drawn to the name _Magnus_ , as well as _Ragnor_ , repeating over and over in the diary entries. Sometimes the writings were organised, sometimes they looked like they were written in a hurry or in a clearly distraught mindset - sometimes, Simon could swear the patches on the paper were not ink, but dried blood.

It didn’t take long for Simon to realise that several of the little sketches were of Magnus, even if the drawings were minimalist and looked more like caricatures than Clary’s artistic works. Magnus usually had speech bubbles, and Simon got the impression the artist wasn’t a big fan of the warlock’s hair. On one page, there was a sketch of a warlock with black eyes and horns that the owner of the book seemed to have put actual effort into. They might not have been as talented as Clary, and the little scribbles implied they weren’t too satisfied with their work, but Simon was impressed anyway.

The next two pages were written full of what Simon guessed to be prayers. He closed the book again after he found a sketch of what seemed like a dead body lying in an alley with blood pooling around it.

–

“As much as I enjoy you being here, Sheldon…”

“Simon,” he corrected under his breath, knowing the warlock would pretend not to hear anyway.

“When exactly are you planning to make out with Raphael?”

Simon blinked. “Excuse me?”

Magnus snapped his fingers in annoyance. “Do you need me to repeat myself? _When exactly_ are you planning to make up with Raphael?”

“Oh.” That made a little more sense. Simon shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t think he wants to talk to me. He wanted to kill me last time we met.”

“He was rightfully upset at you for going behind his back. That doesn’t mean he actualy intended to kill you. Raphael is many things, but he is not a murderer. Well, not of people he likes, anyway.”

“He doesn’t like me.”

Magnus raised his eyebrows. “That’s not what I heard.”

Simon shook his head, then remembered something. “Do you know Raphael well?”

“We are… friends.” Magnus didn’t look sure of himself. 

“How did you two meet?”

“I doubt Raphael would want me to talk about it. But the short version is that he needed help, and I gave it to him. I only gave the first push, really… he did most of the work himself.” Magnus leant forward on the couch, and he suddenly seemed much more serious. “Sermon–”

“Oh, come on– You’re not even trying!”

“ _Salmon_. I know Raphael, and I know him as one of the strongest people I have ever met. But even strong people can have too much on their plate. Raphael was… already going through a hard time.” The warlock broke eyecontact to glance away, then cleared his throat. “Camille being on the loose will not help his case. The last thing he needs right now is to hold a grudge with his advisor.”

“It’s not like I can really give him advice on anything. I’m a fledgling, I’m barely even– He just made that up to keep me from leaving the Hotel so much.”

Magnus leant back on the couch again. “And you have no idea why he would want to do that?”

Simon shook his head. “So I wouldn’t spend so much time with Shadowhunters?”

Magnus sighed, and a drink appeared in his hand. “Fine. Let’s go with that.”

–

There was someone in his room.

Simon tensed in his bed when he realised this, but he was too scared to try and get a good look at whoever decided to browse his bookshelf. It was certainly not Magnus. The intruder had no scent, no heartbeat, and didn’t breathe.

“I know you’re awake.”

“Oh my– Are you trying to make this look like a creepypasta on purpose? Because you’re succeeding.” Simon sat up on the bed, pulling the covers up to his neck like it would protect him. The intruder didn’t answer.

"Are you here to kill me?”

Raphael turned around, and when Simon saw what he was holding, he almost wished the answer was _yes_.

“I don’t think Bane would appreciate us getting blood on his covers.”

Simon let out a breath as a reflex.

“You mean your covers.”

Raphael raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”

Simon swallowed.

“You used to live here. In this room. Didn’t you?”

Raphael was quiet for a while, looking around the room and taking it in.

“For a while, yes.” He raised his hand with the book in it. “So I was right that you read this.”

Simon figured there was no point in denying it, so he nodded. Raphael frowned. He opened the book and leafed through it quickly, then shut it again suddenly.

“Let’s talk.” He gestured to Simon to start.

Simon had been waiting for this moment ever since he last walked out of the Dumort. Just a chance to explain without the threat of Raphael trying to kill him. And yet, he couldn’t find the words.

“I’m _sorry_. We needed that book, and Camille knew where it was– believe me, it gave me no pleasure either to let her out and pardon her, but Jocelyn’s is Clary’s mom, and she’s almost like my mom, and we needed her awake…”

“We can skip the excuses.”

Simon stopped. What was Raphael expecting him to say?

“Look, I know I screwed up. Badly. We didn’t have much time to think of another plan when you said no, so…”

“So you decided to free the woman who will most likely try to kill me to get her clan back.”

Simon went silent, and his eyes grew wide. Raphael snorted.

“ _Don’t tell me_ you didn’t connect that.”

“I… I didn’t.” Simon cleared his throat. “I… kinda just figured she’d go away, and…”

“After you destroyed the argument I used to get rid of her in the first place?”

Shit.

“Look, I’m… I’m sorry, okay? I know I should have thought this through, I know I should have… done things differently, but all I was thinking about was Jocelyn and…”

“And her daughter.”

Simon went silent for a while.

“She’s my best friend. She’s always been there, and I’ve always been there for her, and… Surely you’ve had a best friend before.” Raphael looked like Simon had just punched him in the face. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead he swallowed hard and gestured for Simon to continue.

“I love her more than I ever loved anyone, and…”

“She doesn’t even know.”

There was no sympathy in Raphael’s tone, only cold truths. Simon didn’t look at him.

“She _should_. I do everything for her, I pick her over everything else, and then just… she doesn’t even notice.”

Raphael eyed him quietly for a few seconds. “Believe me, a lot of people make that mistake.” 

Simon wasn’t sure what that meant, and he figured that with Raphael, it was safer to let it go. “Look, I know I screwed up. Very badly. There’s no two ways about it, I should have done things differently, and– I’ll spend the rest of eternity making it up to you if I have to. Just give me another chance.”

“Why?”

“I mean, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not really good at this vampire thing. I don’t even know where to get blood, or…”

“You want to come back because you need us to survive.” Raphael didn’t sound pleased.

“Yes, but that’s… that’s not the only thing.” Raphael didn’t prompt him to continue, so after some silence he cleared his throat and went on. “It’s you. You’ve been there ever since I was turned, and you’ve been helping me, and putting up with my stupid rants, and lending me your clothes, and… I now you don’t really… do friends, but I figured… that maybe…”

“I _do_ have friends.”

“Like Magnus?”

Raphael shrugged. “Like him.”

“He didn’t seem too sure about it.”

“He’s my friend,” Raphael assured him. 

“Maybe you should tell him that. I think he would appreciate it.”

Raphael glanced down at the book. It was only now that Simon noticed how _dead_ he looked, skin paler than usual, dark circles under his eyes. Like he hadn’t been feeding, or sleeping, or… doing anything, really. 

He suddenly remembered Magnus saying Raphael was already going through a hard time. He remembered coming back to the Hotel one day not long ago and finding Raphael with his hands pressed to his mouth like he wanted to keep from screaming, staring at the wall and not responding when Simon called out to him. He remembered how desperately Raphael clinged to him when Simon gathered the courage to hug him. They didn’t mention it again.

“Maybe,” Raphael agreed finally. He glanced up at Simon. “Magnus talked to me, and… convinced me I’ve lost enough people lately.” He cleared his throat. “You may come back to the Hotel. But!” he continued when he saw Simon’s face light up, “You are not forgiven, and you may very likely spend _the rest of your eternal life_ making up for this.”

“I will! I will, I promise.” Simon got off the bed and moved towards Raphael before he realised hugging the vampire wouldn’t have been the best idea. He settled for shaking Raphael’s hand, which was… awkward. Raphael looked amused. “You won’t regret it.”

“Don’t make me.”

Magnus was on the phone when they walked out. Raphael watched the warlock, who looked back at him but didn’t acknowledge him with words. Raphael turned back to Simon.

“Go wait by my bike. I’ll be with you soon.”

Simon nodded and left them alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations, because I’m nice:  
> Magnus Bane es un idiota - surprise, surprise, this one means “Magnus Bane is an idiot”.  
> Extraño a mi mamá - I miss my mom  
> Quiero ir a casa - I want to go home


End file.
